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Beauty on an Unexpected Backdrop

Unexpected Backdrop

Last week I found beauty on an unexpected backdrop, a dumpster. As I parked my car at the Douglas Center at the Indiana Dunes National Park, I spotted a lovely scene. Butterflies, wildflowers, and birds had been painted on a blue dumpster. Everything in the scene were things that can be spotted along the trails. I regret that I did not find the name of the artist anywhere on the mural.

A colorful mural featuring various flowers and butterflies on a blue background, with a black bird depicted in the upper left corner.
Indiana Dunes National Park – Douglas Trail

A mammoth sunflower from Chellberg Farm at the Indiana Dunes National Park was featured on “Do You See It?“

All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heavens Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.

Posted for One Word Sunday – Mural

I am curious to know your thoughts.

48 responses to “Beauty on an Unexpected Backdrop”

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  3. Ju-Lyn Avatar
    Ju-Lyn

    Fabulous find! I love it when unexpected art pops up … electrical boxes, lamp-posts, tool sheds and now, dumpsters!

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      Thanks! It’s amazes when an artist takes an eye sore and makes beauty. 😊

      Reply
  4. Linda Schaub Avatar
    Linda Schaub

    That is an amazing mural and what a great idea!

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      I agree. Hoping it becomes a trend. 😉

      Reply
      1. Linda Schaub Avatar
        Linda Schaub

        Yes, new items to discover are always a treat! I try to expend my horizons, like last year with the fun mural of all the critters at the theatre that was painted on the theatre wall.

        Reply
        1. Pepper Avatar
          Pepper

          I admire artists who come up with such beauty. I don’t have even a hint of that talent at all. 😁

          Reply
          1. Linda Schaub Avatar
            Linda Schaub

            I know – some of the wall murals are done with spray paint, so imagine trying to control the color and the painting using spray paint. So much for expanding our horizons too far … baby steps.

            Reply
            1. Pepper Avatar
              Pepper

              Nope, I can’t even imagine that. When it comes to drawing or painting, I am forever stuck on the baby steps. Even my stick figures don’t look much like stick figures. The best I can do is push the shutter of a camera. 😂

              Reply
              1. Linda Schaub Avatar
                Linda Schaub

                I just do automatic, never manual focus, so I am not very advanced in the camera use department!

                Reply
                1. Pepper Avatar
                  Pepper

                  Nothing wrong with using auto focus. With the digital cameras of today, I think the majority of photographers use auto focus most of the time. About the only time I use manual focus is when working on macro photography to capture raindrops, insects, some flowers, etc.

                  Reply
                  1. Linda Schaub Avatar
                    Linda Schaub

                    It’s easier using automatic focus if its animals or birds as they move so quickly. If I had to fumble for the settings, I’d come home with nothing on the camera card.

                    Reply
                    1. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      Exactly! Easier and quicker too. My eyes cannot focus as fast as the camera does. The birds would be gone by the time I focused. 😳

                    2. Linda Schaub Avatar
                      Linda Schaub

                      Same here and when I have the digital compact, it is a point-and-shoot camera, so I’m not looking in a viewfinder, so if it sunny, my reflection is where I am trying to see the subject.

                    3. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      That does make it harder, 😊

                    4. Linda Schaub Avatar
                      Linda Schaub

                      Yes, that happened today too – sometimes I am shooting blindly and because I see my reflection in the back of the camera, today I saw a fishfly on my face. They are so light, I didn’t realize it until I saw my reflection.

                    5. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      Oh no! 😯

                      Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to this, Linda. I started to and then things came up here and I never clicked send.

                    6. Linda Schaub Avatar
                      Linda Schaub

                      Oh, I have done that before too Pepper. Once I fell asleep and trailed off what I was writing and clicked send. The next day I got a message from the blogger I was commenting to “are you alright Linda?”

                    7. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      That’s too funny. You really must have been tired. Things have been busy around here this weekend. I am behind on WP stuff. 😜

                    8. Linda Schaub Avatar
                      Linda Schaub

                      Yes, to have trailed off like that and then pushed “send”. I was drawing and painting today, some items to include in some future posts. I didn’t get here until late myself.

                    9. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      Can’t wait to see some your art, Linda. 😉

                    10. Linda Schaub Avatar
                      Linda Schaub

                      Thanks Pepper – I had to weigh them down as two curled up as I painted sky and water … today I drew some more to paint Thursday as it will rain. Then I’ll take a breather again – if I had a place to leave everything out, I’d paint and draw more.

                    11. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      So you draw it first and then paint? I am obviously not an artist. Stick figures are about all I can do and even those are not good. 😜

                    12. Linda Schaub Avatar
                      Linda Schaub

                      Yes, I am no artist either, believe me! I took the lessons from the first artist and she did a step-by-step tutorial o draw the subject, then we painted it … I took a lot of her courses last year, but she’s only had one landscape course this year due to being ill and some family emergencies and it is mostly abstract painting, loose pictures. I like something that you can tell what it is (well hopefully and if not, I’ll describe it in the caption). 🙂 I have a long way to go yet. As to the new artist, we have a Facebook group for the followers to post their work after doing the tutorials … I am glad to see I am not the only one that takes an hour to do what she calls a “mini painting you can do in 10 minutes”.

                    13. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      Even an hour seems fast to me. 😮

                    14. Linda Schaub Avatar
                      Linda Schaub

                      Well, I tried one of her fast tutorials today after I finished the ones I labored over. Kind of abstract (which I’m not really a fan of as I like more precise) and it didn’t turn out too bad, but it doesn’t look anything like hers, fast or slow. 🙂

                    15. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      I would think that it not looking like your instructor’s is a good thing. 🤔

                    16. Linda Schaub Avatar
                      Linda Schaub

                      Well, I photographed all the paintings today and took a look at that on the screen. Hmm, I told myself that my paintings all look whimsical, which is good since my blog has “whimsy” in the title, however, her finished paintings are not necessarily whimsical! 🙂

                    17. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      Yes, stick to your whimsy always. 😉

                    18. Linda Schaub Avatar
                      Linda Schaub

                      It’s more fun that way, even unintentional. I hope I don’t have to put captions under so people know what they are. 🙂

                    19. Pepper Avatar
                      Pepper

                      I agree with you completely, Linda. Bring on the fun! 😁

  5. WanderingCanadians Avatar
    WanderingCanadians

    How totally unexpected. Looks beautiful.

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      It was definitely unexpected and beautiful. Gld you enjoyed it. 😊

      Reply
  6. slfinnell Avatar
    slfinnell

    A canvas begging to be beautified! Kudos to the artist and also to you for the share:)

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      You are so right. The artist did a wonderful job of adding beauty and color to the dumpster and the area around it. 😊

      Reply
  7. Indira Avatar
    Indira

    Very artistic backdrop!

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      That’s what I thought too. 😊

      Reply
  8. Earl Avatar
    Earl

    What a lovely way to make something that is inherently ugly a canvas for beauty.

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      Absolutely right! I am hoping it becomes a trend.

      Reply
  9. Eliza Waters Avatar
    Eliza Waters

    What if all such industrial eyesores in our landscape were similarly decorated? What a difference it would make! 😍

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      You are so right about that! This dumpster displayed beauty of nature around it from an artist’s perspective instead of distracting from it. 😊

      Reply
  10. Rupali Avatar
    Rupali

    Wow! And it has 3D effect.

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      Yes, it does. Definitely made it look more real. 😉

      Reply
  11. bushboy Avatar
    bushboy

    Beautiful find Irene 😀

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      Thanks, Brian. It was impossible to miss such a pretty mural. 😉

      Reply
  12. Lynette d'Arty-Cross Avatar
    Lynette d'Arty-Cross

    That’s lovely!

    Reply
    1. Pepper Avatar
      Pepper

      I thought it was too! I appreciated an artist that can make something beautiful from the simplest of things. 😉

      Reply
error: All photos are copyrighted by Pepper Tron (aka Irene Tron & Heavens Sunshine). All rights reserved. Unauthorized use is prohibited.